World’s largest rodent the Argentinian capybara spotted roaming North Weald golf club in Essex

Bogey: An Argentinian capybara, which is the world’s largest rodent (Picture: Caters)

The 19th hole is generally awash with outlandish tales from the fairways that other golfers scarcely believe.

So, when a playing party headed to the clubhouse for a stiff drink with a story to tell of what they saw at the eighth, members at one club scoffed.

That was until they saw a video of the unusual hazard – a giant rodent.

It turned out the 1.2m (4ft) long beast stalking a course in the Home Counties was a creature native to South America.

Angus Lloyd-Skinner, assistant manager at the North Weald golf club, near Epping, Essex, where the creature was filmed, said: ‘A group reported seeing a giant rodent on the eighth and when we went to investigate we saw this huge creature the size of a small dog.

‘We didn’t know what it was until one member identified it as an Argentinian capybara. We have no idea what it’s doing on the course.’

It’s thought the animal, which eats grass and tree bark, has escaped from a zoo or may have been released into the wild by a bored pet owner. It is still roaming wild on the course.